NBC Universal executive returns to Lauralton Hall

Kathy Kelly-Brown, a Lauralton Hall alumna from the class of 1982, and senior vice president of communications of the NBC Universal News Group, offered some words of wisdom when she spoke recently at the private high school.

Your father is always right, know the value of friendshipand you never know when being a Lauralton lady will come in handy,she said in her keynote address at Lauralton’s annual Father-Daughter Brunch.

The Nov. 3 event sponsored by the school’s McAuley Parents Association, drew more than 200 people and was followed by a prayer service.

Kelly-Brown said she didn’t want to attend an all-girls high school or wear Lauralton’s blue uniform, but she enrolled in 1978 because her father wanted her to.

She came to love the school and all it stands for, and when her father died just before the start of her senior year, “The school my father had wanted me to go to so badly wound up being a great source of comfort after he passed away. My friends were there for me and the rituals we formed over the years together brought me much peace and happiness as we began that last year together at Lauralton.”

Kelly-Brown, who started her career as an NBC intern and later worked at NBC and Warner Brothers Television, said that her Lauralton education empowered her and encouraged her to take risks.

“Though I wouldn’t realize it until many years later, there were some key things that my four years at Lauralton taught me that have helped throughout the course of my career and in my personal life,” Kelly-Brown said.